A December 10, 1992 picture of an abandoned residential school near Williams Lake, BC, just south of the Sugarcane reserve.Bill Keay
/ Vancouver Sun

Commission chairman Justice Murray Sinclair raises his arm asking residebtial school survivors to stand at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Ottawa on Tuesday, June 2, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

The Truth and Reconciliation march took place in Gatineau making its was into Ottawa, May 31, 2015. John Moses hold a photo of his father Russ and aunt Thelma taken at the Mohawk Institute in 1943. (Chris Roussakis/ Ottawa Citizen)Chris Roussakis
/ Ottawa Citizen

People gather before the Walk for Reconciliation, part of the closing events of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Sunday, May 31, 2015 in Ottawa. Beginning in the 1870s, over 150,000 First Nations, Metis and Inuit children were required to attend government-funded, church-run residential schools in an attempt to assimilate them into Canadian society; the last school closed in 1996. Students were prohibited from speaking their own languages, practicing their culture and often experienced physical and sexual abuse.Justin Tang
/ Ottawa Citizen

A woman walks past a sign during the second day of closing events for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Ottawa, Monday June 1, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian WyldAdrian Wyld
/ THE CANADIAN PRESS

St. Michael’s Indian Residential School entrance, with two students on the driveway, Alert Bay, British Columbia, is shown in this 1970 handout photo. A crumbling, omnipresent red brick building has been a haunting presence for thousands of aboriginal children who were subjected to physical and sexual abuse at the site. Some of those who attended see the planned demolition of St. Michael’s Indian Residential School as the removal of a cancer that has been eroding the remote Vancouver Island community of Alert Bay.HO
/ THE CANADIAN PRESS

Hereditary Algonquin Chief Dominique Rankin says a prayer on the second day as the closing events of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission get under way at theDelta Hotel on Monday morning. Assignment - 120761 Photo taken at 08:45 on June 1. (Wayne Cuddington / Ottawa Citizen)Wayne Cuddington
/ Ottawa Citizen

Chief Vern Jacks of the Tseycum First Nation told a compelling story during a sharing circle as the closing events of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission get under way at theDelta Hotel on Monday morning. Assignment - 120761 Photo taken at 11:21 on June 1. (Wayne Cuddington / Ottawa Citizen) ORG XMIT: POS1506011407325375
/ Ottawa Citizen

Assembly of First Nations Chief Perry Bellegarde (in a headdress) and Justice Murray Sinclair (in a black suit), TRC commissioner, march last Sunday during the Walk for Reconciliation, part of the closing events of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Vancouver Grade 7 student Ava Weinstein-Wright is hoping her video explaining the evolution and lasting effects of the residential school system will make her one of six students chosen by the Canada’s History society to attend this year’s Governor General’s Awards.
Weinstein-Wright, 12, says she was drawn to the topic after visiting a museum in the Okanagan and talking to two very close family friends who work as lawyers within the framework developed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.video image
/ Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

An Alert Bay crowd watches the demolition of St. Michael’s Indian Residential School on Wednesday. The school operated from 1929 to 1974.Chief Bob Chamberlain
/ Times Colonist

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VANCOUVER -- Residential school survivor Lillian Howard held back tears Tuesday morning as she celebrated another step in a long road to healing and recovery.

She was among hundreds who packed an auditorium in Vancouver's downtown campus of Simon Fraser University to mark the final chapter of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission's study into the horrors of the residential school system.

"It affected me for the whole of my life," she said. "But today I am on a healing journey."

Howard attended a residential school on the west coast of Vancouver Island. She was only there for two and half years, but suffered major sexual, physical and emotional abuse. The anger and resentment the abuse caused overshadowed her life and her career ambitions.

Howard's formative years were shaped by the belief that she was a failure, which led to dropping out of school more than once. Despite the challenges, Howard eventually earned a master's degree in environmental education and communication.

She said the report provides hope that other survivors and victims will be able to realize their goals.

"All my life I have been dealing with the negative impacts of abuse," she said. "There was a lack of self-esteem, lack of self-confidence, and I was always up and down. This report gives me hope. It's a long journey and it's only the beginning in the reconciliation process.

"I was determined to say 'I am not a failure, I am not stupid.' I made it and others can too."

The commission on Tuesday described the atrocities as nothing short of "cultural genocide." It revealed recommendations from a sweeping report, the culmination of six years researching what happened to about 150,000 aboriginals who were required to attend church-run residential schools until nearly all the institutions were closed in the early 1970s.

The full report, weighing in at six volumes and thousands of pages, will be released later this year.

But even before Ottawa decides whether to act on any of the report's 94 recommendations, the report has created an opportunity for the non-aboriginal public and First Nations to build a common bridge of understanding, said Chief Robert Joseph, the co-founder of Reconciliation Canada.

"What's important before expounding even to the specifics and recommendations is recognizing we have a basis for real dialogue now and a real understanding that transforms our relationships," said Joseph, who was in Ottawa for the report's unveiling. "I really think this is a two-way conversation. We want Canadians to be part of the dialogue because we want to break these divisions between us, these walls of contempt and misunderstanding and sometimes just pure racism and hatred. The issue belongs to all of us who are citizens of this great country."

Joseph spent 11 years in an Indian residential school in Alert Bay, and said there was nothing redeeming about it. As he sat listening to the report's findings, he thought of the impact the school had on his life.

"What struck me most about today is that I am now 75 years old and this report was 75 years in coming. I lived through a pretty difficult period in my life and I look back and shudder at some of my own personal experiences. I never really quite understood why I acted out and lived my life the way I did, including alcohol addiction and being very angry.

"What struck me about today was that all of us in that room were looking for a new way forward, that this report could give us a context and a framework to work together with everybody else."

Grand Chief Ed John, the North American representative to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, said he believes the report may help the public move beyond the "colonial mindset" of denial.

"This one is one of those reports that should grip the nation," he said. "I am really hoping the public gets the chance to read it and understand it, and not to be intolerant or indifferent about it, and start talking to politicians. Because where people go, governments will go."

In Vancouver, the crowd clapped and cheered as each recommendation was broadcast on a massive screen at SFU's campus on West Hastings Street, the enthusiasm audible — especially when the commission called for a national inquiry into the country's missing and murdered First Nations women.

The earthy smell of burning sage filled the auditorium, as an First Nations leader sang a traditional warrior song dedicated to the strength of the survivors. Everyone in the crowd stood up as the solemn chant was performed, while the sound of drums echoed through the theatre.

The commission, prompted by the largest class-action settlement in Canadian history, found neglect was institutionalized and students were often "prey to sexual and physical abusers.''

It goes so far as to recommend a statutory holiday to honour survivors and an apology from the Pope on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church. It also calls on federal, provincial, territorial and municipal governments to fully adopt and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as "the framework for reconciliation.''

After the event, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said there was "a litany of challenges" ahead for the city, as all levels of government work toward reconciliation.

"Obviously there needs to be more done at the federal level of government," he said. "The UN declaration is important to implement. We were one of the last countries to support it, adopt it and now we need to take action as a country."

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